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Pointing Edges

Fig. 1 The operator when an edge is active.

Edges can be activated with any Pointing Mode, but they are available only when the Curves and Edges visibility options are both active. You may also wish to use the Normals visibility option, because in this way you will be able to see (and change) the normal vector assigned to the central point of the edge (which is used to correct the orientation of polygons across the edge). Another option the Hints visibility option (unselected by default), which allows you to change the tessellation hints assigned to an edge. Each edge has two separated Tessellation Hints which determine the way the edge will be affected by tessellation processes. Each Hint increase/decrease the tessellation level nearby one the the two vertices/handles of the edge. Tessellation hints will be explained better in the Tessellation Operator section.

Activating an edge will show:

a Transform Tool to Move, Rotate or Scale the edge. This works in the same way described for vertices.
the two handles of the edge, if Handles is enabled. Such handles are shown as little white cubes; a few gray lines show the connections between the handles, the vertices and the edge
The 2 Tessellation hints controls, if Hints is enabled. Such controls are little spheres, one for each side of the curved edge, with a label showing a single character. Moving the spheres on the edge will change the character ( from A to P) and will affect the tessellation of the edge.

As for vertices, in order to switch between Translate, Rotate and Scale you can use the standard buttons in the main Unity Toolbar (Fig. 2). Translate, Rotate, Scale and the combo Translate+Rotate+Scale are supported. The tool will answer correctly also to your choice about Global or Local transform. The Pivot/Center option is instead ignored.

While an edge is active, you will also have more GUI controls on your Dynamic Menus Area:

Edge Elasticities Controls: control the way in which other edges answer to the movement of the active edge (all the edges having one vertex in common are affected); there are four different elastic behavior, and they are explained in one of the next sections.
Edge Auto-Normal Controls: control the way in which other edges normals are updated when the active edge is moved; there are two different auto normal behavior, and they are explained in one of the next sections.
Editing Normal: write or correct the editing normal direction of the edge. The Editing Normal may affect the shape of the polygons on the left or right side of the edge. Only available when Normal is selected.
Manual Edge-Normal Controls: update the active edge Editing Normal, using one of 4 available behaviors. Such behaviors are explained in one of the next chapters.
Edge Hints : allows you to change Tessellation Hints ( from A to P) with incremental buttons, affecting the tessellation of the edge. Tessellation hints will be covered in the Tessellation Operator section.